Choosing a used wheel rim. How not to make a mistake?

Secondary market of auto parts in the CIS. There is nothing to be surprised about, here you can buy a spare part, a unit, or a whole unit half the price of a new one. Moreover, most of the parts are in excellent condition, since they were operated in a gentle mode on the roads of the EU, the USA or Japan.

Risks when buying a used wheel rim 

Many used parts require a thorough check. Including wheels, cast, or stamped. Despite the attractive price tag of a used alloy wheel, it can bring a lot of unpleasant surprises:

Discs recovered after an accident. Visually look like new, but you need to understand that any thermal effect on the material (argon welding, for example) forever changes the structure of the metal. Durability will never be the same. What to do: Conduct a thorough inspection of the surface both outside and inside. If a private seller gives a set of wheels with rubber at a ridiculous price, but flatly refuses to remove the tires for inspection - he has something to hide. At the very least, these are traces of careless welding.

Microcracks. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon on cast and forged wheels that have felt bad roads. The crack most often occurs in places of mechanical damage to the rim or spokes, in the hub zone it is rare. Even if the disk after damage is carefully rolled out on a special machine, the likelihood of a crack remains. What to do: Carefully inspect each disk, especially in the one area. There is another proven way to calculate cracks - hang the disk and gently hit it with a metal bar, even the key to the ignition lock will do. The disc without damage will have a rolling, long-lasting ringing. If the sound after the impact is deaf and instantly goes out, there is a high probability of a crack.

Disk warping. It can occur even on new products since no one canceled the factory defect. Such a disk is unusable and cannot be restored in most cases. He is guaranteed a beating and will not be able to balance him.

What to do: Check each disc on a balancing stand without a tire. The stand will instantly give out both the beating in any plane and the impossibility of balancing. Warped discs are not restored by rolling, and it does not make sense to heat the alloy to somehow get it from straightening, the strength of the disk can no longer be restored.

In most cases, all these horrors relate to CDs that are bought from unknown sellers. A company that sells used spare parts values its reputation and will not risk the safety of the client because of the ridiculous amount.

Rules for selecting used discs 

If we already know how to distinguish a high-quality disk from a suspicious one, we can look at the models. But before that, we should have some information related to the standard disks for a specific model of a particular year of release.